Welcome to discussions, introduce yourself!

One will come to know me thru what I share – my words are what define my thinking and progression of thought and being. Just like a first date…one doesn’t tell all the dark secrets…“Tea is more than a drink” as Carolyn so eloquently stated early in the string. I come to the alter of steaming water mixed with pure pleasure and joy hoping that we can just enjoy one another’s company and smile one cup at a time.

Alright, I’ll bite. I’m Bethany. I’m 23 and live on the far north side of Chicago. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, but I moved to Chicago for college five years ago and decided to stay for at least a few years after graduation. I have a Theatre Management degree, which basically means I’m equipped to do administrative/management work in nonprofit organizations. I’ve moved on from theatre, but I’m still working in the cultural realm – I work at a children’s museum, where I’m the grant writer in our fundraising department. I’ve always loved to write, and I’ve loved working in nonprofits, so it’s a perfect combo of those things.

Other than tea, I really enjoy beer (I’m not nearly as involved with that as I am with tea, but I freaking love a good brew), cooking and eating, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, reading Russian literature, and any and all forms of Internet humor.

LaurenNJ, I love coffee too! While I do like black coffee I also love specialty beverages. My orders for Starbucks are 3 lines long LOL. And warning- you WILL become addicted and you WILL have a hard time keeping your wish list in proportion to your financial means.;) Can you imagine if we could log/review teawares too???

Welcome…I am fairly new myself. How did I EVER wake up and get thru a day without Steepster!!! ; } Good quality coffee w/o a paper cup(I am trying to do my part to keep the earth green) I fail sometimes though!!

Just learned about this place from someone on another forum, and have dipped toes in the water, rating a tea I was already discussing elsewhere, and already have some questions about this place. Is there a FAQ available?

Hiya, and welcome! I’m not aware of an FAQ, though there are some forum guidelines posted. You could try searching the message board with a keyword for your question — if nothing comes up, I’d just post the question. Folks around here are generally friendly and willing to help if they can.

Thanks for the welcome. I tried searching a bit but quickly got bogged down in pages of reviews and not really what I was looking for.

The first question came up in regards to a tea I posted about, one new to the board. I gave it an 85 rating, which obviously was the first one. The ‘steepster score’ was less than mine. Does the steepster score cut back from my rating because I am the first person rating it?

And then the steeping clock isn’t infinitely variable, but has set points—plenty flexible for ‘western style’ brewing, but not for gong fu cha. How do you handle it when you’re describing a gong fu cha session with steeping times that might be 10", 10", 20", 20", 30", 30", 45", 45"?

The Steepster Score uses not only average rating, but number of ratings. The default rating is the average of all teas across the site. Each user rating pulls it away from the average. After one rating, right now no tea can be above 80 or below ~50 if I remember correctly. You can Google “Brewing a Better Rating System” to see the details, it’s pretty intelligent.

Also, on the point about multiple steeps with different times, most people just record those in the text of their notes. You don’t have to use the slider bars at the bottom at all — or you can use them to reflect the first steep and then record the others in the text. That’s what I usually do.

I suppose I’m supposed to introduce myself?
my name is Cory, I’m an art student just relocated to Baltimore from Chicago, though I’m planning on heading back to Chicago for the summer. I’m majoring in painting and minoring in gender studies. I’m a vegan, which makes it hard for me to take anything else with my tea besides sugar, (does anyone do stevia or agave nectar here, and is that recommended?) but I’m okay with that. :) I LOVE a good cup of tea, however, I don’t know very much about tea yet. (I’ve read a book on the subject and it seems really intense, and something that I would love to know all the information about.) I’m sure I’ll find all I need here. Until then, I’ll keep up with my 3+ cups of tea that I drink a day, which proves a welcome distraction from writing papers and burying myself in oil paint and solvents.
I hope you’re having as good a day as I am—just found a tea forum and tea log. :)

there are stevia and agave nectar fanatics around here – does vegan mean you can’t do honey (sorry to be dense but i figure if the animal didn’t die it’s ok – although i know some vegans don’t do eggs or milk or anything at all animal related)

yeah, I don’t do honey, or any animal related products, no dairy at all, either. Though sometimes I’ll put some almond milk in a chai that I’ve made—stands in rather nicely.
Stevia and agave are used regularly, though? I’ve been using liquid stevia drops in my tea for years, and sometimes it gives it a bitter taste if there’s too much, but generally it comes out alright. Good to know there’s other people out there, too! :)
Thanks for answering my question!

well there is stevia leaf : http://www.52teas.com/tag/stevia/
and of course the processed ones (truvia etc)
my favorite is sugar in the raw / amber sugar rocks (also called german rock sugar by teavana) – one steepsterite has been having luck putting some honeybush in her teas as a sweetener as well (and now i forget who) i am sure you’ll be able to get some more ideas as you poke around the forums, i know there are also a few other vegetarians who don’t do anything animal at all and might be able to help point you away from teas they found to have things hidden in the ingredients before you buy!

oh my goodness, AmazonV, that would be awesome. I remember after making the transition to veganism that I found one of my favorite teas to have milk products in it :(. No matter, later on I found something even more delicious…
Thanks for the info! The honeybush sounds like a good idea—something naturally sweet already!
I wasn’t aware that you can actually purchase stevia leaf, but that’s another possibility. I’ll have to look into it. :) thank you!

I think I’ll finally introduce myself! (I’m supposed to be working on a term paper so what better way to procrastinate a bit longer, right?) I’ve been hanging around the website for a while, got caught up with my work, and just recently came back and decided to start tracking my teas and making some posts.

For myself, I’m a 23 year old graduate student in Connecticut, just starting the long road for a biology PhD. I moved this past summer from California (San Jose, in fact, I noticed someone else from the same town posted? Shall I add ‘Go sharks!’) so its been great to find an online niche for my tea habit. Most of the people I’ve met here aren’t big tea drinkers and I’m still working on converting my new friends ;).

I’ve been really into tea for a few years now, and back in California did regular shopping at Teavana and Lupicia, as well as this super cute little tea lounge (Ku Day Ta) that’s sadly closed now. I also will usually pick up any unique or interesting tea when I travel somewhere. My favorite type is definitely oolong, although I have learned to like all teas except white tea. I’ve recently been introduced to yerba mate which I’m very excited about! Too bad its very tough to get the real Argentinian brands here in the US (I don’t know how “real” guayaki is?) but that’s what is the power of the internet right? I love learning the history behind each type of tea, I try to drink tea “the right way” from whatever culture it comes from, and love to learn about different tea customs. I’ve also recently (still shy-ly) been experimenting with improving my cooking, and have had fun making “tea food,” like earl grey cupcakes, etc. Its been fun.

I would definitely say that tea (and all it encompasses) is my main hobby. I’m always attracted to anything related to tea. I don’t drink coffee, not because I don’t like it, but just to avoid starting a coffee habit, and tea helps me do that also. For the rest of my life, I have two super cute pet turtles, and I ride a motorcycle and drive a stick-shift. I miss California tremendously, but am loving the East Coast so far.

Hey Morgana! Thanks for the welcome. I was scanning over your rating legend, do you mind if I adopt the same guidelines? I hadn’t really thought about it, but that pretty much matches what I’ve had in mind when I rate..

Sure, you’re welcome to do so. I have been finding that some of the middle and lower ratings aren’t all that useful with distinctions as fine as I’ve given them and have been thinking about combining some of them — but if it works for you, have at it!

My name is Adham and I’m happy my friend introduced me to this community of tea lovers. I’m originally from Northern California and that still feels like home to me in many ways, but I’ve led a peripatetic life for a long time now and currently find myself in Northern Virginia, working for the “gummint”.

I love tea because it’s the one substance in which I can actually taste the differences people talk about, as opposed to wine (two-buck Chuck is fine with me!), coffee (blech, never been a coffee drinker), etc. I also appreciate the ceremony of it, even if it’s just me making a pot for myself mid-afternoon. I’ve been fortunate to have visited beautiful tea estates in Nepal and Sri Lanka, which has just added to my appreciation for this wondrous plant.

I’m looking forward to getting tips on and trying lots of new varieties of tea from the folks here…

Thanks – I’ve just placed a couple orders for more samples, so I’ll be adding more soon. Not sure I’ll every approach the hundreds of tasting notes some people have already logged, but I’ll have fun trying -

I guess this is my re-introduction. I joined Steepster, then disappeared, then came back, and left again. I was having a hard time finding a time to fit it in. But it’s such a great resource and I love the new features. Time to try again!

I’m in my late 30’s and I’ve been blogging about tea since 2007. My number one job is stay-at-home mom to three kids (4 months, 4 yrs, and almost 6.) My other job is as a freelance writer who specializes in writing about tea and other food topics, food allergies, parenting, and New England. My first book is coming out in the Fall (hooray!) and I’ve started work on the second. In my past life I was a non-profit administrator and studied biology and public health. I’ve been in love with tea for about 15 years and my other major interests are knitting and reading.